


One Thousand And One

by Skyepilot



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, First Kiss, Fix-It, Flirting, Friends to Lovers, Humor, Kissing, Kree (Marvel), Male-Female Friendship, Older Man/Younger Woman, Project TAHITI, Skye | Daisy Johnson's Superpowers, Soulmates, Star-crossed, quantum entanglement
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-12
Updated: 2018-10-12
Packaged: 2019-07-25 21:20:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16205894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyepilot/pseuds/Skyepilot
Summary: Daisy reaches out for Coulson across the universe.Written for #cousyfixit, quantum entanglement prompt





	One Thousand And One

"Daisy, we could've done this thousands of times, for all I know."

"Then what difference would a thousand and one make?!" she asks him, her voice raised. "And if this is all true, how was it your choice to make alone?"

"I think the fact that we're having this conversation means it's very much true."

She watches the holographic image smirk at her and kicks the device on the floor, making his visage shimmer.

"I don't remember any of it," she tells him, arms crossed. "Leading a rebellion against the Kree. But I can't deny what I feel right now, seeing you again, even like this-"

He reaches forward with his hand and swallows as it passes through her body. "You have a whole life ahead of you, that you can choose-"

"The Kree designed everything to work in balance," she interrupts. "This is still here," she tells him, touching her fingers to her chest. "You are still here."

"I think that's how that works with or without the Kree?" he suggests. "Look, Simmons told you it's like quantum entanglement, right? The same way your powers work, it's what connects us?" he asks her.

"Yes. And there is no evidence that your walking away has changed any of that."

"Well, I died. Again," he reminds her. "Sorry. Not my fault. Which means-"

"I don't want to talk about that yet," she says, raising her hand to cut him off. "What do you remember? And no more secrets! I feel like it's another pattern."

"Speaking of secrets," he says looking down. "Did the team put together this nifty device to help you explore this connection or-"

"It's contraband, don't ask. I had to sneak it on the ship. Which, by the way, use your inside voice, so they'll think I'm just talking to myself."

"You've kept secrets from me before," he reminds her. "So, on a scale of one to ten, how dangerous is this?"

"How much of it was true?" She narrows her eyes at him, crossing her arms again.

"Daisy, I didn't even know I had this secret until after the Ghost unraveled Project TAHITI. Then my memories started to come back, one by one. So did the disease that was killing me."

"You could've told me."

"No, I couldn't have, because I didn't know myself. I didn't want the serum. I knew I could be more useful to you this way. PROJECT TAHITI did something, it overrode the Kree programming."

" _Useful?_ "

"What are you doing right now?" he tells her, walking past her and unbuttoning his jacket before he sits on the edge of her bunk. "Going after the Kree, right? I can help you. Where do you think I am?"

"I don't know, but if you try to go full Obi-Wan on me, I swear-"

"Okay, the short version it is: I'm on Hala. The Kree homeworld."

"I know what Hala is, but how can you know that for certain?" she asks him, moving to sit on the bunk next to him.

"Because I'm part of it. That I can't entirely explain, but, I returned there-"

"So, are you wearing that suit because I wanted that, or did you-" she asks, eyeing him over more intently.

"I'm not sure," he says with a shrug, looking down at himself and smoothing the tie down the front of his shirt. "Someone has great taste in ties, though."

"Or, that you look like this because this is the only you I remember?" she says with a raise of her eyebrow.

"You want someone younger and taller, don't you?" he answers with a nod.

"No..." She rolls her eyes, stretching her legs out in front of her. "Can you do that?"

"You changed your hair again," he says with a sigh, looking at the blonde waves on her shoulders.

"I always do," she replies, glancing down at her boots again. "Hey, how is it that you can sit here," she goes on, tapping her hand on the bunk, "But your hand passed through me before?"

"I don't know?" he asks quizzically. "Maybe it's about perception."

"Then, try again?" she asks him. "A thousand and one."

She feels something, although she's not sure how to describe it, as the hologram touch passes along her cheek. More of an idea of a feeling than a feeling itself.

"I told you, I could never imagine a universe without you in it," he whispers when he makes the faintest of contact.

"Yeah, I haven't forgotten. Coulson, what is this?" she asks, searching his eyes. "What are we to each other?"

She can see him starting to pull away from her, setting his hands on his lap again. "I don't know," he pauses. "Everything?" His voice has a slight pitch of fear in it. "But you're trapped in this cycle, over and over again, all because I-"

"I feel like this is something you've said, in pretty much every life," she tells him, shaking her head.

"Probably," he says with a shy smirk. "I think you're onto me, after all this time."

"We're all just vibrations. That's what my mother told me once. That we just vibrate at different frequencies, and if you could speak to it, you can make it move. A mountain. Why not a person?"

"Okay, that doesn't sound scary or potentially universe-ending or anything. Should we try? I trust you."

That makes her smile, and she slowly raises her hand, closing her eyes, touching the hologram, feeling it becoming more solid as she concentrates on the frequency of the vibrations, drawing them closer.

Eyes open, and he's in front of her again, a look of shock on his face, his hand sifting her hair between his fingers, but the moment her powers weaken, she can feel him becoming ephemeral again, simply in the room as an idea because of the device on the floor that was so hard-won.

She tries to hold onto him by the front of his shirt and feels the silken tie slip through her fingers.

"That didn't hurt you or anything, did it?" she asks tentatively.

"No," he replies, looking down at his own holo body, troubled, loosening his tie and the top button of his collar. "This place where I'm at, it's not real. It's meant to feel like it's real, but there's no taste, no smell. It's something in between."

"Wow, are you trying to tell me I smell? Because, that's totally fair, I haven't showered in-"

"Like your shampoo. But Daisy," he raises a hand again to touch under her nose, and she realizes it's bleeding and goes to get something to wipe it away with.

"Sorry," she tells him, sitting down again.

"No, don't be," he tells her. "You have to promise me, you won't hurt yourself-"

"I'll try," she tells him, a bit sternly. "But we have to get you out of there. And you have to promise you're going to help."

"Okay," he agrees, rubbing his hand along the back of his neck, restless with possibility.

"I just want one more moment," she tells him. "Please."

He stares at her briefly, considering the cost of it, and this time, he reaches his hand out to her, as if to touch her face.

She begins, concentrating her powers, feeling the vibrations take his shape, trying to be more controlled this time, but it takes so much effort, she can't even keep her eyes open.

When she feels his lips brush against hers.

It breaks through her focus, but she lowers her hand and chases after him, stealing whatever she can, holding on, until it's just a memory of warmth.

Her eyes open and he is wide-eyed, staring back into her, even though she can see through him to the far wall behind.

"We really have to get this worked out," she tells him, trying to catch her breath.

"Yeah," he agrees, blinking twice. "Look."

She stares on the bunk between them and sees it there.

His tie.

She lifts it, runs the silk between her fingers.

And laughs.


End file.
